Age at which you were baptised - and why isn't it taken into consideration?

by somebodylovesme 12 Replies latest jw friends

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  somebodylovesme

  Hello,

  My husband was baptised right after he turned 11 years old. This was highly unusual in his congregation (not sure what the average age is) as most people were at least 16 or 17 before they took the fatal plunge. By the time my husband was 16, he realized what a huge mistake it was as he no longer wanted to have anything to do with it. He continued going to meetings until he was 21 and has since been inactive (two years, now).

  I have raised the issue with his parents - basically asked them how on earth they could let their 11-year-old enter a LIFELONG commitment. I asked them if they would have let him get married at 11 - they said no, but that he was "ready" to be baptised then. I said, obviously not.

  Now, he has not done anything to get disfellowshipped, so everyone is content to leave things as they are. But I predict someday, someone will want to cut him out. Is the person's age at baptism ever a possible consideration? I doubt it. But say they try to disfellowship him even 10 years from now (which is the soonest we'll probably even be living in that area again). How can they stand there and tell a 30-something-year-old that he is losing his family for a decision he made when he was 11? That seems so absurd. But, I guess that is the nature of the beast. Sigh.

  How old were you when you were baptised? And do you know of any time a young age has helped the person when they want to get out?

  Thanks,

  SLM
• 

  maxwell

  I was 12 when I got baptized. I have never heard of early age of baptism being a factor in a disfellowshipping decision. But you do make a good point. I've heard of kids as young as 7 being baptized. How can someone who is too young to be married be capable of making a decision that is, according to JW, even more important than marriage and that carries more consequences than marriage?
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  czarofmischief

  I was 12. I knew what I was doing. No mercy for myself for being stupid. I answered all 88 questions and looked up all the scriptures and STILL wanted to do it. Now I've walked away from it and found a real God and he doesn't need a promise from me, he forces my hand to be good even when I want to be bad.

  Maybe he's just taking me at my word from 14 years ago, that hot summer day in Three Rivers Stadium, those red chairs glowing dully under the noon sun, the astroturf being soaked so it wouldn't burn our feet, the whole bowl of human flesh sweating and roasting like some cultish hell, the gentler murmur of human beings in various states of spiritual ecstasy and boredom like water swirling around.

  I was in an overheated toilet that day, and I tell you what, I needed flushed. Ahh, being dipped was the best! But who peed in the baptism pool? Hm, maybe...

  CZAR
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  Mulan

  I was 9 and I must admit I knew what I was doing, as much as any 9 year old can. What were my parents thinking??
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  Sassy

  I think that is the thing, how much can we even if intelligent understand a decision that will affect our lives. No one told my sister age 12 when baptised that if she made a mistake and was disciplined because of being baptized that at age 14 she would be shunned by her mother. How can a child make a decision like that?

  Just to sign up for an email account, we have to agree to terms and conditions, including, if we bother to read them, what happens if we break a rule. Here there are children (I was 15) getting baptised at young ages and no one gives them fine print to say this is a life long decision and if you break a rule and don't straighten up, you will not be allowed to talk to your friends, have your family in your life after you leave the house, etc.. No rule is told you to that if you change your mind, you will be shunned. How can we make a choice at a young age a decision that effects us like that?

  I know I didn't. Not to mention I had been programmed that this is what you do with your life.. no one ever said there were options in life.
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  czarofmischief

  Well, at least you are here now, that's all we can do.

  The saddest question is what might have been. Ah well, here we are.

  CZAR
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  mineralogist

  I was 25 and now i'm sure i did NOT know what i did.

  An elderly sister of my cong (baptised at age of ~60) used to say "If i knew how DF'd are treated i wouldn't have joined"

  So IMO it doesn't matter how old you are ... you are just drawn into a cult.
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  sandy

  I was 13 years old it was a month before my 14th birthday. I was way to young to make such a decision.

  I forget my bible history now but wasn't Jesus like 30 or 35 years old when he was baptized?

  The jdubs follow bible examples so closely. Why do they not follow this ultimate example of Jesus when it comes to letting people get baptized?
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  Insomniac

  I think Jesus was 30 when dunked. I got baptised 2 days after my 12th birthday.
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  micheal

  The earlier they lock you in the more control they have over you. That's what it's all about. Very, very evil.